NYC Water Tank Tidal Wave 2

Stacked, clustered, wired, and perched on plaster.  Above, north of Queens Blvd. over the LIRR tracks.  Below l-r: (1) near 2nd Ave. & 28th St., (2) south from Broadway & 51st St., (3) above Lexington & 40th St., (4) near Gramercy Park.



Above l-r (1) a cluster south of 32nd St. between 6th & 7th Aves., (2) looming over a cottage above 17th St., from Irving Pl., (3) a cartoonish lump on the head wrecks a perfectly good building at 5th Ave. & 19th St., (4) a tower west of 3rd Ave. & 22nd St.


Above l-r: (1) above 53rd St. east of 5th Ave., (2) above 53rd St. east of 8th Ave., (3) from Broadway & 43rd St., (4) on 27th St. west of 6th Ave.  Finally, below, all wired up on 19th St. near 9th Ave.

[NYC Water Tank Tidal Wave]

Yet More Ulgy NYC Buildings

Mercifully, we've reached the bottom of my Barrel of Ugly...  Above left, on Greenpoint Ave. in Greenpoint, a building so cursed that I'm certain the current renovation (including removal of the inviting metal "come in and get stabbed" nightclub entrance) will fail to improve its looks.  Above right, proof that the clueless use of details to spice up a hopeless design always amplifies the failure: (Top) French sailor shirt stripes and black refrigerator-bin balconies glued on a generic condo-pile on St. Marks Place, (Bottom) what look like blue tape stripes buzz on bright orange brick at the north end of Battery Park City.


Above l-r: (1) the largest and most infantile entry here, south of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, (2) the backside of the Bowery Hotel, showing off its dumpy HVAC "bell tower," (3) the screaming plastic SVA Theatre on 23rd St.


Above l-r: (1) NYU suburban civic center schmaltz across from Washington Sq. Park, (2) concave balconies make a grim condo fortress look even worse on Meserole St. in Williamsburg, (3) the roof tumor known as the Blue Moon Hotel, on Orchard St. off Delancey.

Below left, at Lexington & 27th St., a giant dirty air filter.  Below right, a mishmash progression of styles culminating in the "luxury box" top right, on Essex St.


[Earlier: More Ugly NYC Buildings]

More Ugly NYC Buildings

More proof that Ugly never sleeps in this city, and that scale has no moderating effect on it (these are all large buildings).  Above, at 6th Ave. & 25th St., a two-toned brown monster with boxy tan outlines near its base.

I'd like to think that the outlines were a conscious effort on the part of the architect -- that they were intended, through sheer ugliness, to distract the eye from the massive heap above -- but the more I look at ugly buildings the more obvious it becomes that they're conceived (just like humans) in the most thoughtless, optimistic and irresponsible (drunken) state possible.


Above l-r: (1) inspired by bathroom furniture?, at 11th Ave. & 24th St., (2) an enormous tan dirty-plastic toy at 5th Ave. & 40th St., (3) another brown two-toned crime against vision from 9th Ave. & 40th St. (that looks a lot better in the aerial still from The Bourne Ultimatum, right).


Above l-r: (1) a massive insult to fluted columns at 3rd Ave. & 86th St., (2) proof that bolting a bunch of used parts together still gets you Frankenstein, on 49th St. off 10th Ave., (3) a dirty bee of a building that would fit right in across the freeway from an oil refinery, at Park Ave. & 54th St.

And finally, below, several examples of the "brick pile" style favored by budget hotels and developers who'd build with garbage-insulated cardboard panels if they could get away with it.


Above l-r: (1) the Holiday Inn on Nassau St. at Maiden Ln., (2) on 39th St. off 8th Ave., (3) on 29th St. off 6th Ave., (4) on 31st St. off 6th Ave.  Below l-r: (1 & 2) three brick piles from 6th Ave. & 28th St., (3) a "corner pile" at 6th Ave. & 18th St., (4) an orange pile with graffiti accents at 2nd Ave. & 61st St.


[Earlier: More Ugly NYC Buildings]

NYC Rooftop Roundup Royale

Above, a Dumbo rooftop from the Brooklyn Bridge.  Just below l-r: (1) 1st Ave. & 19th St., (2) McGuinness Blvd. in Greenpoint, (3) 2nd Ave. in the 70s.



Just above l-r: (1) 7th Ave. & 18th St., (2) west from Park Ave. So. & 35th St., (3) 57th St. near 11th Ave., (4) east from 11th Ave. above 30th St.


Just above l-r: (1 & 2) above Washington Pl. & Greene St., (3) a Google satellite shot of that (1 & 2) rooftop, (4) University Pl. & 9th St. from Greene St.  Finally below, at Franklin & N 15th Sts. in Greenpoint, a metal middle-finger rooftop.